1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and specifically relates to an image forming apparatus with a multi-job function.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of conventional image forming apparatuses with multi-job function, the aspect of job control is emphasized as, for example, in the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-75772. The image forming apparatus disclosed in the aforesaid publication is capable of reading a separate job and reserving image formation during the execution of the printing operation of a previous job.
On the other hand, there is also a conventional apparatus which stops an image reading operation immediately when a print operation is stopped.
The image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-75772 provides that successive separate jobs are reserved and their images read even after printing has stopped. Therefore, image data stored in memory are not erased by printing the image, such that image data gradually accumulate in said memory. This accumulation of image data causes memory overflow. When memory overflow occurs, image data are lost during the reading process. This situation is disadvantageous insofar as the document must be reset and the image of the document must be reread.
Furthermore, in image forming apparatuses capable of independently executing reading operations and printing operations, there is no need to stop a reading operation at the same time a print operation stops as in the case of the aforesaid conventional apparatus. That is, stopping of the image reading process is an unnecessary control from the perspective of operating efficiency insofar as memory overflow does not occur.